Engagements
by Ryuka
Summary: Sokka is less than thrilled with Aang's hopes to marry his little sister. The best way to discourage potential suitors? Lie like a rug.


"Hey, Sokka."

"Yeah, Aang?" Sokka looked down to where the younger boy sat perched on Appa's furry shoulders. They were on their way to deliver Sokka to his father, after which Aang would go on to the eastern air temple to meet with a guru about Avatar stuff. They had left Katara and Toph behind in Ba Sing Se and set out, ready to do some quality male-bonding. But so far it had been a quiet trip. Neither of them had anything in particular to say to each other. Until now, it seemed.

Aang faced the horizon, and seemed to be very carefully not looking at Sokka. "In the Northern Water Tribe, when someone wants to marry a girl, they give her a necklace, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"And if she takes it, that means they're engaged, right?"

"Yeeeaaahh." Sokka narrowed his eyes. "What's your point, Aang?"

"Well. . . then, I guess that means I'm engaged to Katara."

Sokka choked.

Aang turned toward him, a pleased grin spreading across his face. "Well, I did give her that necklace I made, and she accepted it. So that means we're engaged, doesn't it? Plus, I gave her back her mother's necklace after Zuko took it. That counts too, I think." He turned away again and settled contentedly back against Appa's shoulders.

Sokka stared at him, unable, for the moment, to think of what to say. He'd known Aang had a crush on Katara, and he suspected that his sister liked the young airbender as well, though she was a lot more subtle about it. Sokka was mostly okay with it, as long as they kept their hands to themselves. But engaged? His little sister? And to the _Avatar_? She was _way_ too young for that. They both were. There was no way he was going to let that happen. Not for another four years _at least_. He opened his mouth to tell Aang this, then stopped as an idea occurred to him.

Sokka leaned casually back on one hand, his face a study of indifference. "I hate to burst your bubble, Aang," he said, pretending to examine the dirt underneath his fingernails, "but that's not how things are done in the _Southern_ Water Tribe."

"O-oh. It's not?" Aang looked up at the older boy, his satisfied expression melting away.

"Nope. The Nothern Water Tribe has gotten all fancy, with their schools and their canals and their ice palaces. They don't have to hunt for food or battle snowstorms or fend off attacks by wild animals. They don't remember what it's like to be _real_ warriors."

"Oh. Well, but I thought -"

"In the _Southern_ Water Tribe," Sokka said, cutting him off, "it's important for the man to show that he has the skills to take care of a wife and family."

"Okay. Well, then, what do you have to -"

"You start," Sokka interrupted again, "by tracking down a polar leopard."

Aang's brows knit. "What's that? I've never seen one."

"Oh," Sokka said, waving a hand dismissively. "They're kind of like a badger lion, but way bigger and with sharper teeth."

Aang swallowed.

"Anyway, so you track down this polar leopard and kill it -"

"Wait. Kill it? Why?"

"To prove you can protect your family, of course. If you can take on a polar leopard, you can protect them from pretty much anything. It's the biggest hunter in the South Pole. . . Probably everywhere else too."

"And all of the men in your tribe who want to get married have to do this?"

"Oh yeah. Not everyone makes it back, of course, but that's just the way things are out there. You either eat, or get eaten."

"Your dad did it too?"

"Sure! And you should see the scar on his chest." Sokka made a swiping motion from his left shoulder down to his right hip. "Practically tore the skin off. He was bleeding so bad he almost didn't make it home, Mom said. But that's the mark of a real warrior, you know?"

Aang was starting to look a bit pale.

"So, then, after you kill the leopard and drag it home, you have to butcher it properly."

"Butcher?" Aang squeaked.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you can't just go around killing things and leaving the carcasses lying around. There's not a lot of resources in the South Pole, so you gotta use everything. You skin it and cut up the meat to eat, the bones get made into spears and fishhooks, the stomach into water skins, the sinews into thread and so on."

The airbender was definitely looking queasy now.

"Then," Sokka continued, "you have to stretch the skin and treat it by rubbing it with mashed leopard brains."

"Yurg."

"That's so the girl can make it into her wedding parka. After that, though, you're pretty much done. Well, except for getting the tiger seal skins to make your wedding tent," he added thoughtfully.

"You really have to do all that if you wanna get married?"

"Yep. That's our custom. No father would ever let his daughter go without proof that she would be safe with the guy."

"Oh. I. . . I see." Aang turned away, staring out over the horizon with a troubled look on his face.

Sokka allowed himself a small grin of satisfaction, laying back with his hands behind his head. That should take care of Aang's eagerness to marry his little sister, at least for a while. Their tribe's engagement customs were really as simple as the couple agreeing to marry each other and then asking the father's permission, but Aang didn't need to know that. Not, at least, for a good long while.


End file.
